Missouri Speaker of the House John Diehl is your typical “family values” Republican. He is rabidly anti-gay, and has been praised by hate groups such as the Family Research Council for his record of anti-gay lawmaking. Well, it seems that any credibility surrounding so-called family values is now out the window with this man, and with any luck, his political career is gone right along with it.

Well the shuttering of the internship program aside, Speaker Diehl is in big trouble, as his habit of sexting with the aforementioned intern has now been made public. At first, Diehl denied any knowledge of the existence of the sexy texts at all, but when the Star let him know that they had the messages, he admitted to the inappropriate relationship and released a statement:

“I apologize for the poor judgment I displayed that put me and those closest to me in this situation. I also regret that the woman has been dragged into this situation. The buck stops here. I ask for forgiveness. I will begin immediately working to restore the trust of those closest to me, and getting back to the important work that is required in the final days of session.”

Well, it’s a classic stock statement about how sorry he is for his behavior and his hypocrisy. I don’t think Mr. Diehl should keep his job at all, though, after sending a vulnerable 19-year-old girl messages like these (edited transcript courtesy of The New Civil Rights Movement):

Her: “You better take care of me.”

Diehl: “Like how?”

Her: “I’ll bet you’ll figure it out.”

Diehl: “I dunno. You have always been disappointed;)”

Her: “I just have high expectations, I guess. Thus far, you’ve done pretty well (an emoji blows a kiss)”

Diehl: “:). I kinda want to hear what you are expecting”

Then, shortly after, he types: “You will be in good hands :)”

At one point Diehl texts her: “God I want you right now,” to which she replies “I wish you could have me right now.”

In another exchange, she sends a picture of herself in a bikini and Diehl responds: “Damn girl …”

“Nice”

Shortly after he writes: “I want to see more” followed by a smiling emoji.

Another exchange centered on Diehl texting that he was “Laying in bed looking at your pic :)”

She responded: “Mmmmm why can’t I be there :)”

Here are the images of the actual text messages:

Well, there ya have it, folks. Another one bites the dust. Hopefully, the petition being circulated by other Missouri House members to have Diehl removed as Speaker of the House is successful. The larger issue, though, is this: How many of these “family values” hypocrites have to be caught doing something like this for people to realize that they are the sleaziest, most hypocritical people around? They are drunk with power, and believe that they can opine on other people’s lives while doing the very things they speak against.

All I can say is I am glad that yet another one is going down, doing what he apparently does best: trumpeting “family values” while sexting with interns.

Author: Shannon BarberShannon Barber is a self- described queer feminist and activist for racial equality, LGBT rights, women’s rights, and secular rights in America. She is a lifelong lover of words, though her educational background is in computer science. She currently writes for 2 liberal websites, and keeps her own humor blog for lesbians. She hopes to change the world, one mind at a time.